It seems that the Russian authorities are not so sure of its power and stability, would have to be based on the numbers of opinion polls, which claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin enjoys the support of the majority of citizens. This writes the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine, Recalling the mass protests that took place yesterday in Russian cities across the country, reports ZN.ua.
The brutal police action against peaceful demonstrators in Moscow and St. Petersburg showed that the Kremlin is afraid of open political competition. Therefore, through violence, he tries to suppress it before a potential opponent will be strong and able to fight for power.
According to the newspaper, Alexei Navalny has become such rivals, as he widened the protest base, both geographically and in the social dimension. Now his supporters take to the streets not just in Moscow and St. Petersburg. They organize events throughout the country. And because of this a large number of local protests, which the Russian authorities were able to isolate from each other, can now unite into a larger movement.
On the other hand, Navalny is clearly trying to position itself as an alternative to Putin. The publication notes that the current regime in Russia is stable only because the current President seems to be the only leader for both voters and elites that the Kremlin is fighting among themselves for money and influence. And Bulk has the potential to break this monopoly of Putin. According to the newspaper, today the movement around the opposition was large enough, so the Kremlin will have to reckon with him. It is not excluded that the Bulk of the defeated. But the price of repression for the regime to be not too small.
Recall that the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was arrested for 30 days for repeated violation of the rules of the meeting.
During the protest, timed to coincide with Russia Day, the police arrested more than 1.5 thousand people, including more than 730 protesters in Moscow and about 500 in St. Petersburg. Many minors among the detainees.
The initiator of the protests was the head of “Fund of struggle against corruption” Alexei Navalny, one of the authors of journalistic investigations on corruption, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
